Conway Tightens Grip on British F3 Title

28 August 2006

In a lights-to-flag victory, Carlin Motorsport's Oliver Jarvis stepped onto the top step of the podium for the second time in his debut season in the Lloyds TSB Insurance British F3 International Series. In a 1-2 for Carlin Maro Engel finished in second place for the second time today, with runaway championship leader Mike Conway taking 3rd, his 14th podium of the year, to further secure his claim to the 2006 British F3 title.

The National Class provided the best action with Cristiano Morgado, with a demon first lap from 3rd on the grid, taking his first win in British F3 after finishing 2nd nine times this year. However it was a close run thing with Juho Annala and Rodolfo Gonzalez right behind the South African as they took the chequered flag.

The race started well for Jarvis as he led the British F3 grid towards Paddock Hill with his German teammate tucking in behind. Mike Conway, starting from 4th on the grid, got a good run into Paddock to move alongside 3rd placed Yelmer Buurman on the run into Druids where he moved ahead of the Dutchman.

In the National Class pole position holder Juha Annala once again found himself being passed at the start, not by Rodolfo Gonzalez this time but by Cristiano Morgado who leapt ahead of the Finn and the Venezuelan. Annala then put pressure on Morgado but after finishing second so many times this season the South African seemed determined to finally see the top step of the podium.

With overtaking proving extremely difficult the race settled down with Jarvis circulating ahead of Engel, who like the first race could stay with the lead car but had to wait for Jarvis to make a mistake before he could attempt to overtake. Conway settled down in 3rd place, content to let the leading pair battle it out for the first part of the race.

On lap 13 Alberto Valerio's first weekend at Brands Hatch came to an abrupt end when he span off at the bottom of Paddock Hill, beaching his car in the gravel. The safety car had to be deployed so the Cesario Dallara could be recovered to a safe position, which bunched the field back up.

Two laps later the race was green again and Jarvis held his nerve and his lead as Engel tried a half hearted move on his temmate, but not wanting to throw away a good podium finish. Conway continued to close up on the leading Carlin Dallara's but was also driving for the championship and wasn't going to try anything rash that could end his race.

On lap 19 the red flags came out as Rodolfo Avila's car went off into the tyres at Westfield and with just 1 minute of the race remaining the result was declared.

Oliver Jarvis was delighted with win number 2 in his debut season and also delighted to lead home a Carlin 1-2. Cristiano Morgado was also celebrating his 27th birthday today and was extremely please to have finally taken a British F3 National Class win after so many second places.

Oliver Jarvis: "This means a lot to us, we won in Mondello and that seems a long while ago. However we've showed we're still on the pace and a strong team performance, which is superb for Carlin. I controlled the pace, I could've pulled away at any time and I was able to keep a constant lead and not make any mistakes."

Cristiano Morgado: "It was a long time coming. We've had a lot of chances through the year, but things just didn't go our way. But I'm really glad, the team really deserves this, the team's awesome. I'm really pleased to win with the Lola and really happy to finally get this."

SRO

See 2006 series calendar for British F3 Championship

Related Story 25.06.2006 - Carlin Return to Winning Ways as Jarvis Claims Debut British F3 Win